On the Double Ninth Festival, the ninth day of September in the second year of Taichu (1630), the third round of negotiations between the Qi and Ming Dynasties continued in Xuzhou, an important town on the north bank of the Huaihe River.
After more than two months of bargaining between the two parties, all terms have been basically agreed upon, and the peace talks are about to make a breakthrough.
Because the Xuzhou "Huimeng" is similar to the historical Song Dynasty "Chanyuan League", historians call it "Xuzhou Huimeng".
In order to express their sincerity in negotiating peace, the Hongguang court not only sent Huang Gongfu, Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru, Du Yinxi and other important officials, but also invited famous Jiangnan celebrities such as Zhang Dai, Yao Yunzai, Zeng Jing and Chen Hongshou to come to Xuzhou to support them. Unfortunately, Many of these literati and refined scholars never returned, which is really a great misfortune for the Jiangnan literary and painting circles.
Among these celebrities in the late Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai is the only one the traveler knows.
Zhang Dai's name was Weicheng, with the courtesy name Zongzi, Tao'an, Die'an, and a native of Shanyin, Zhejiang. He was born in an official family. When he was young, he was called "Jianzhi Jiangyan" by his uncle Tao Chongdao because of his intelligence and kindness when he was young.
Zhang Dai later commented on himself: "A good pear garden, a good advocate...a lover of tea and oranges, a lover of books and poems. He was a dandy when he was young. He loves prosperity very much. He loves monasteries, beautiful maids, prostitutes, fresh clothes, and delicious food. , good horses, good lanterns, good fireworks, good pear orchards, good propaganda, good antiques, good flowers and birds, and also the pleasure of tea and orange."
To put it simply, this is a seventeenth-century refinementist who has a certain pursuit of life.
In addition to Zhang Dai and the others, there were also several Yiyang opera troupes and dozens of demon boy singers with fair faces who crossed the river to Xuzhou. It is said that these were all gifts given to the Emperor of Qi.
On the Qi side, Ma Shiying, Qiao Yiqi, Sen Ti, Qian Qianyi and others participated in the peace talks. Emperor Wu Ding arrived in Xuzhou in early September and was busy inspecting the customs and customs along the Huaihe River every day. Specifically, he took the Empress Dowager Cisheng and Dai Funi ate and drank.
The local Huaiyang cuisine in Xuzhou is quite famous, and to suit the emperor's appetite, Liu Zhaosun could eat one stone in two days, which put a lot of pressure on the second-class imperial chef Tan.
On the 10th day of September, at the famous Huanglou in Xuzhou, officials from the Qi and Ming Dynasties gathered at the Huanglou to discuss the details of the peace negotiations.
Xuzhou Huanglou was built by Su Shi when he was the governor of Xuzhou. When the Yellow River burst and the fierce floods were about to destroy the city wall, Su Shi lived in a shed on the city wall and directed the soldiers and civilians to build embankments to protect the city of Xuzhou. Later, a tall building was built on the east gate city wall, using loess, saying that soil can overcome water, so it became a famous site.
The officials of the State of Qi sat facing south, facing each other from the envoys of the State of Ming. The Yellow Tower was filled with soldiers of the State of Qi.
The two sides quarreled endlessly over the cession of Jiangxi. The Nanming mission stated that it was okay to pay annual coins as compensation, but it was absolutely impossible to cede land.
Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Fengyang, stood up and slapped the case, pointed at Ma Shiying's nose and cursed: "Ma Shangshu, you have read the books of sages, how can you let Jiangxi, a place with prosperous literary style, fall into the hands of Qi! I heard that the Emperor of Qi was planning to abolish Kekao, aren’t you pushing all the Jiangxi scholars into a pit of fire?”
Ma Shiying snorted and sneered silently. Under the guidance of Emperor Wu Ding, Jiangxi scholars had to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives to stop Da Qi from advancing.
"The scientific examination will only test out some rotten scholars who write eight-legged essays. Our emperor is determined to forge ahead, reform bad government, and has far-reaching intentions. How can you, a young generation, understand it?"
Ma Shiying had a bad temperament and looked unruly. There was no trace of the gentleness and humility of a scholar in him.
"If Jiangxi is ceded, there will be only a small corner of the Ming Dynasty left, which cannot even compare with the Southern Song Dynasty. If the country is not strong enough, I would rather die than obey!"
The speaker was the veteran Huang Gongfu. This time Emperor Hongguang sent him to Xuzhou, and the bottom line of the negotiation was to protect Jiangxi.
Hongguang's monarchs and ministers all knew that this was Liu Zhaosun's lion's big mouth, and he wanted to eat up a whole province in one bite, so they also sat on the ground and bargained.
Du Yinxi, Minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, stepped forward and said to Ma Shiying: "I heard that the northern frontier of your country is unrest, and that the Rakshasa and Koreans may enter the border at any time. Since you have occupied Hubei, Henan, and Shandong, we should promptly Stop it, now you have to go to Shu, you have swallowed so much, and you still want Jiangxi, you are only 30 to 40 thousand people, your stomach is too small, but you eat too much, be careful to burst it!"
Qiao Yiqi was an old friend of Du Yinxi, so he appeased the Minister of War and sat down, advising him: "Your Majesty, your words are reasonable. My emperor is just worried about the people of Jiangxi. I heard that this summer, Jiujiang and other places in Jiangxi suffered floods, which have not happened in a century." , My emperor was worried that the people were short of food and clothing, so he wanted to take advantage of the situation and go south to help the people with disaster relief..."
Qiao Yiqi's words sounded so ridiculous that Du Yinxi didn't even bother to refute, and everyone else didn't speak either. The scene suddenly became a little awkward.
As the Minister of War said, the Qi army entered the Pass with only 50,000 to 60,000 troops. It spent more than half a year conquering cities and territories, occupying several provinces in Shandong, Henan, and Hubei, and was responsible for setting up defenses. The troops were already stretched thin, and I heard that Zhao Lijiao and Pu Gang They were disadvantaged in the wars in Korea and Sakhalin. At this time, the Qi army in the pass was at the end of its strength, extremely exhausted, and in urgent need of rest. If it were to easily attack Jiangxi and be ambushed by the Nanming, the situation between the north and the south might suddenly reverse.
Each and every one of the people in the Nanming Mission was regarded as a hard nut in history. Huang Gongfu had already told others about the stakes, and these people twisted into a rope, grasped the weak points of the Qi army, and dragged Ma Shiying and others along with them. bargain.
"Ma Shangshu, Qiao Shangshu, epidemic diseases are prevalent in the army in autumn. I don't know whether Kaiyuan soldiers can adapt to the climate of Huaiyang. If any soldiers fall ill, I can send military doctors to assist your army in treating them."
~~~
Ma Shiying called Qiao Yiqi and Senti aside and whispered. The three finally decided to give up on the idea and give up the cession of Jiangxi, but they wanted the Ming Kingdom to pay another sum of money as "redemption fee."
Dongguan Zai, who had not had time to speak, came to Huang Gongfu and spoke emphatically in rich Cantonese:
"Bujiezi, my emperor is so gracious that I can't bear to see the two families in ruins. I don't have to take the land in Jiangxi, but I need to pay another 10 million taels to redeem Jiangxi..."
Before Senti could finish speaking, Lu Zhenfei jumped up in anger:
"What, 10 million taels of silver?! Why don't you want 80 million taels? Just give it to you directly from the Ming Dynasty's treasury! Even if Jiangxi is sold, you can't get 10 million taels!"
At this time, Zhang Dai came out to smooth things over: "Masters, if you really want money, you can use the troupe to convert it. Each one is worth 50,000 taels of silver. There are many Yiyang accents in Xiaomin's hometown, and there is also this little singer. Each one is worth 5,000 taels. Package it and sell it to you, Qi State..."
Qiao Yiqi became furious after hearing this:
"My emperor doesn't want to listen to operas, and he doesn't want any small songs, take them away, take them away!"
It's a pity that Emperor Wu Ding didn't like this and had no special need for singing.
In his previous life, he had no fondness for Lin Yutang and Liang Shiqiu's sketches, let alone Zhang Dai, the ancestor of these literati in the Republic of China.
Senti stood up and said loudly:
"Negotiating peace is not about treating guests to a meal, it is not about writing an article, it is not about painting and embroidering, and it cannot be that elegant. In any case, we must raise enough money as soon as possible to get what the emperor wants, otherwise..."
~~~~~
For four hours, after repeated quarrels and games, and a marathon negotiation battle, an agreement was finally reached at 3:00 on September 11th, known as the "Xuzhou Alliance" in history. The main contents of the alliance are as follows:
1. Qi and Ming Dynasties were a country of brothers. Emperor Wu Ding was young and called Hongguang Emperor Zhu Changhui his younger brother. Later generations still regarded him as his younger brother.
2. The two sides of Qi and Ming were bounded by the Huaihe River in the east (Qi gave up the two prefectures of Hefei and Wuchang) and the Yangtze River in the west. Both sides withdrew their troops. From then on, any thieves and fugitives who crossed the border were not allowed to hide in each other. In the cities along the two dynasties, everything was as usual, and no damage was allowed. The God who built the city.
3. The Ming Dynasty provided Qi with four million taels of silver, 200,000 pieces of silk, 250,000 pieces of cloth, and 10,000 kilograms of tea every year to "support the military expedition." It was delivered to Xuzhou every Dragon Boat Festival.
4. The Ming Dynasty repaid the ransom fee of five million taels to the Qi Kingdom, and it was due to be paid in full at the end of the second year of Taichu.
5. The two sides will set up forays at the border to carry out mutual trade.
6. Every year on the birthday of the Emperor of Qi, he would send envoys to congratulate him.
7. The prince Zhu Cixiang, Princess Changping and other members of the royal family are all present.
Lu Zhenfei and others were strongly dissatisfied with the terms, because the Ming Dynasty only had Jiangnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Four million taels of annual coins was a heavy burden, not to mention cloth and tea. The people are knocking on their bones and sucking out their marrow, and continue to squeeze. The taxes of the Ming Dynasty will be directly collected by Hongguang for eighty years...
Finally, Huang Gongfu tremblingly signed the terms, stood on the railing of Huanglou and looked out into the distance, looking at the people on the south bank, stroking his beautiful beard with his hands, and said with compassion for heaven and humanity:
"The war is fierce and the war is dangerous, and the world is difficult. I have no choice but to suffer for the common people one more time, and I have to bear the burden."
Lewen
